It's OK Thesp. Yesterday was EGRP & ELNK today it is ELNK & MKTW
ELNK soon to have a great finance portal!
Thursday June 10, 7:02 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
EarthLink and MarketWatch.com Team Up for ISP's New Finance Portal
Co-Branded Portal Will Feature Other EarthLink Premiere Partners and Provide EarthLink Members With Easy Access to the World of Personal Finance on the Internet
PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 10, 1999-- EarthLink (NASDAQ:ELNK - news) has teamed with MarketWatch.com (NASDAQ:MKTW - news; cbs.marketwatch.com) to offer its members a co-branded, customizable suite of financial resources and services.
MarketWatch.com, a leading Web-based financial news provider, will be EarthLink's default Financial News Provider on the new personal finance site.
In addition, a host of other EarthLink Premiere Partners will provide a wide range of financial services and resources on the site, taking it well beyond a traditional finance portal offering. These Premiere Partners will be announced throughout the second half of 1999.
Through a number of finance-related EarthLink Premiere Partners, the co-branded finance portal will enable EarthLink members to place instant online stock transactions; access real-time stock quotes; track multiple portfolios; view up-to-the-minute financial news; and perform a wide range of personalized investment analyses and financial research.
EarthLink is again making it easy for its members to utilize and experience the Internet all from one page, eliminating the hassles of having to visit multiple Web or destination sites.
''The Internet has revolutionized people's ability to research, plan and better manage their personal finances,'' said Howard Lefkowitz, EarthLink's vice president of Internet marketing and business development.
''Powered by MarketWatch.com, our finance portal puts a very robust, brand-name suite of financial resources and services at the fingertips of EarthLink members. Like the EarthLink Personal Start Page, it's all about providing our members with the best tools for maximizing their Internet experiences.''
''Our partnership with Earthlink is a major step for expanding the audience for our breaking financial news,'' said Bill Bishop, vice president of development at MarketWatch.com. ''We are excited to be working with one of the leading ISPs in the country.''
Slated to premiere in July, the EarthLink finance portal powered by MarketWatch.com will be a significant addition to the content and services offered through EarthLink's Personal Start Page, the highly customizable default launch page utilized by most EarthLink members.
Retaining Members and Driving Incremental Revenue
The EarthLink finance portal will enable EarthLink to provide a wealth of resources directly aimed at its share of Internet users wanting to utilize the Net to enhance their financial position. According to a recent study published by The Yankee Group, the number of U.S. households investing online will grow from 5 million in 1998 to 25 million by 2003.
''The demand for online financial services is growing rapidly,'' said Melissa Bane, director of Internet market strategies at The Yankee Group. ''Companies offering this content and commerce to customers will be well positioned to retain customer relationships online.
''Online consumers are looking for value in their Web experiences, and the easier a service provider makes it to conduct shopping and investment transactions, the better.''
Providing EarthLink members with a comprehensive suite of finance-related news and services also adds value to the EarthLink Internet experience, and reduces member churn. For example, company statistics indicate that EarthLink members who use resources like the EarthLink Personal Start Page are more loyal to EarthLink and less likely to change services.
In addition, just as the Premiere Partners that appear on EarthLink's Personal Start Page provide the ISP with significant incremental revenue, EarthLink will benefit from its control of all advertising, promotion and partnership-related revenue opportunities channeled through the co-branded finance portal.
EarthLink's current roster of Premiere Partners includes ABCNews.com, About.com, Amazon.com, CNN, eBay, ESPN.com, HotBot/Wired Digital, InfoSpace.com, MBNA, Sprint, Travelscape.com, The Weather Channel and other leading Internet content and commerce providers.
''Our strategy of partnering with leading Internet brands is to provide EarthLink members with compelling areas of content, services and customizable resources -- all within the open expanse of the Internet,'' said Lefkowitz.
About MarketWatch.com
MarketWatch.com is a leading Web-based provider of comprehensive, real-time business news, financial programming and analytic tools. The editorial team contributes financial and economic reports to national CBS radio news feeds, ''CBS Evening News With Dan Rather,'' and CBS News' ''This Morning.''
MarketWatch.com was launched in 1997, as a joint venture between CBS Broadcasting Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of CBS Corp. (NYSE:CBS - news), and Data Broadcasting Corp., dbc.com, (NASDAQ:DBCC - news), the country's leading provider of real-time financial and market information for the individual investor. CBS and DBC are controlling stockholders of MarketWatch.com.
MarketWatch.com has headquarters in San Francisco and bureaus in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Tokyo and London.
About EarthLink -- It's your Internet
EarthLink is one of the world's leading independent Internet service providers. Through its unified EarthLink Sprint Internet access service, the company makes the Internet relevant and productive to hundreds of thousands of individuals and businesses every day.
With headquarters in Pasadena, EarthLink provides a full range of innovative access and hosting solutions to thousands of communities internationally from more than 2,300 points of presence.
EarthLink and Sprint Corp. (NYSE:FON - news) have formed a broad business relationship to create an Internet service with the potential to reach millions of new customers. Sprint is a global communications company and one of the world's largest carriers of Internet traffic.
Information about EarthLink and EarthLink Sprint services is available by calling 800/395-8425 and through EarthLink's Web site at earthlink.net.
This news release contains forward-looking statements, forecasts and predictions that involve risks and uncertainties. The company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, forecasts and predictions as a result of many factors including those discussed in the companies' various reports filed from time to time with the SEC.
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